Last Friday night as I was leaving my sisters apartment after picking up my kids from dinner, I mentioned to her that I thought that the idea that the OMNY Cards were only available to students who lived more than half a mile away from school was ridiculous. She has heard my crazy ideas in the past, but this time she said that she agreed.

So, rather than just moving on to my next crazy idea, after a busy Saturday I sat with my kids and started this petition. I had no idea if anyone would see it, and if anyone would agree, but look at this. Four days later we have gotten 1,500 signatures, thanks to the abundant response from so many parent groups on Facebook.

Even before I started the petition, I also reached out to a few friends wiser than me. When I texted Micah Lasher, who in addition to being a great friend and awesome baseball coach for my boys, is the Democratic Nominee for State Assembly in the 69th District, he also agreed that this was an issue worth fighting for. Because he is someone who gets things done, he started working on the issue. Today I received a copy of this letter written by Brad Hoylman-Sigal, State Senator from the 47th District, Shaun Abreu, City Council Member from the 7th district, and Micah which was sent to New York Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Education Chancellor David Banks encouraging action.

Also today, I got a call from Linda Rosenthal, Assembly person of the 67th District, sharing that she had written to Janno Lieber, the CEO of the MTA.

I am so appreciative of all of our local politicians who have stepped into this fight, and am excited to see the momentum that this petition has garnered. But we can’t stop now! We need to keep working to give OMNY Card access to all students in New York.

Please share our successes and share the petition to continue to pressure those who have the power to make this change take action.